Showing results by narrator "Katherine Press" in All Categories

1944, and London is under attack. Young mouse Pip Hanway's safe and quiet world is turned upside down when her home, umbrella shop James Smith & Sons, is destroyed by a bomb. Orphaned and alone, she must begin a perilous quest to find a new home. But the only way to get there is by joining Noah’s Ark, a secret gang of animals fighting with the resistance in France, operating beneath the feet of the human soldiers. Danger is everywhere, and as the enemy closes in, Pip must risk everything to save her new friends.

Martha is a feisty and articulate young woman, the daughter of a wheelwright, living in a Herefordshire village in Elizabethan England. Unusually for the time she is educated and so helps at the local school whilst longing to escape the confines and small-mindedness of a community riven by religious bigotry and poverty. As she is able to read and is well-versed in herbal remedies she is suspected of being a witch. When a landslip occurs - opening up a huge chasm in the centre of the village - she is blamed for it and pursued remorselessly by the villagers.

1952. In the fragile atmosphere of post-war Paris, Sophie Bernot is training as a heart surgeon. A young woman in a man's world, Sophie is determined to bury her past and forge her medical career, whatever the costs. Across the channel, Sebastian Ogilvie is burning with ambition for his first architectural project. As his schemes lead him to France, and to a chance encounter with Sophie, his future seems full of promise.

A dark, gothic adventure set deep in a Bavarian forest, with angels and owls and magic and a boy who isn’t all that he seems to be. A cherub is blown into Cassie Engel’s bedroom during a thunderstorm, triggering a series of terrifying events. Cassie must discover if its arrival was an accident or part of something more sinister. With a self-obsessed opera singer for a mother, a strange taxidermist father and a best friend who isn’t quite what he seems, Cassie is forced to unearth the secrets of her family’s past.

Family matriarch and Holocaust survivor Nora Wojnaswki is about to become the oldest woman in the world, and her family are determined to celebrate in style. Her great granddaughter, Debs, however, is not too happy about being left in charge of the party. It’s been a struggle to get the Rabbi to commit to a date and the large Wojnaswki clan can’t agree on what food should be served. Only, Debs’s problems are just beginning. Because Nora isn’t your average centenarian, and she has other ideas.

Former police officer Tia quit the Met years ago when she failed her exam to become a negotiator, her dream job. But when a peaceful climate protest at a London museum turns deadly, and one of the radicalised group members takes Tia and others hostage, she realises this is her chance to prove she has what it takes. Three years later, Tia discovers that the surviving hostages are being harassed by an anonymous person, leading one of them to take their own life. Refusing to have another death on her conscience, Tia begins to investigate.

Louise Polmar begs her former nanny to care for her baby then she flees. Ella grows up unaware that she is one of the Polmars of Porthminster Hall. Ella tries to uncover the truth about the fate of her mother, but there are dark secrets at Porthminster Hall, and as Ella delves into the mysteries of the past, she finds herself in mortal danger. The same mortal danger her mother fled from more than 20 years ago....

Charity Palfrey is an orphan with no family of her own and no past. Accepting a job as governess at Morwennan House is a fresh start for her, but from the moment Charity arrives she knows there is something sinister about her appointment. Charity finds romance with the charming Tom Stanton, but she soon starts to question his motivations. Is he simply using her for his own ends? And are there darker secrets lurking beneath the surface at Morwennan House?

Rosa lives in a world where she discovers there is magic. It arrives with Balthazar, a large black cat, just when she needs it most. Even so, it takes all her courage to stay hopeful and adventurous when her dreadful aunt and uncle move into her life. And when she finds herself abandoned in the ancient city of Venice, can magic help her then? Perhaps it can.

Carla Craig is passionately in love with Richard Mere—he has a hold over her she can't resist. Even when her world is blown apart, Carla still can't put the affair behind her. And Avril Hayden, Carla's flamboyant and sensual friend, finds herself increasingly intrigued by this mysterious connection—a connection that won't go away. But as hidden truths are finally revealed, intrigue turns to fear, and risk to terrible danger.

Portugal, 1750s. Cecilia Lamb knew being a sea captain’s wife would mean a life of waiting and watching the horizon for her husband’s ship. But John has been gone longer than any voyage should last. Everyone else has given up hope of his return. But she knows in her bones that he is not lost. Gone, but not lost. Barely able to tear her eyes from the shimmering sea, she feels drawn to the sun-baked shoreline, and amid the bustle of the docks she feels certain that her husband will come back to her. Though along with that feeling is another sense – that something darker is coming.

After one disastrous magic show too many, Abby’s dad decides to give up showbiz. Abby’s mum was the dazzling magician. Now she’s gone, it doesn’t feel the same. But when Abby finds her mum’s dusty old book, they decide to put on a show for some care home residents. The book’s spells inspire new joy. A lady feels young again when she is lifted into a dance, and two children learn that anything is possible when they fly.

Property magnate Max Silver is in trouble. His West End properties are starting to crumble, his assets are turning into liabilities, and his business empire's on the rocks. With the company in danger of going under, he shakes up his property portfolio, ditches his shiftless partner, Larry, and brings his brother Teddy and daughter Zara on board. Then the Lord Mayor of London asks him to build an iconic skyscraper in the heart of the capital - a 1,000-ft state-of-the-art tower that will show off London to the world, and be a defiant new national symbol.

Hiding in the seedy underbelly of Paris, Vernita is keeping her sick mother alive by selling exquisitely embroidered lingerie to a shop that supplies the Princess Pauline Borghese. When Vernita approaches the Princess directly with a new negligee, she is enchanted and employs Vernita as a personal servant. As an English noblewoman in the enemy French court, Vernita has to tread carefully. However, both the Princess’ handsome lover Count Axel de Storvik and the all-powerful Emperor Napoleon are making matters more complicated...

When Tamsin Hardy returns home from her post as a lady’s maid to attend her mother’s sickbed, her childhood playmate Isobel Penrose offers her a post as her companion at Trevarrah House. Tamsin accepts, but she feels uneasy about Trevarrah House despite her growing attraction to Isobel’s brother Adam. There is a bitter rivalry between Adam and his brother, Nicholas, and Tamsin increasingly fears for her growing involvement with the Penrose family....

In Old Scratch Wood on Dartmoor, quarrelling cousins Matt and Tilda find a buried skull. And from that moment black things begin to happen. Birds and animals turn bad, and there are rumours of the return of an ancient curse known as the gabbleratchet. But what can Matt and Tilda do to stop it...? This thrilling recording contains special bonus material, only available on this audio edition, featuring the character Gabe and the real curse of old Scratch Wood...

When Tartelin Brown accepts a job with the reclusive Marianne Stourbridge, she finds herself on a wild island with a mysterious history. Tartelin is tasked with hunting butterflies for Marianne’s research. But she quickly uncovers something far more intriguing than the curious creatures that inhabit the landscape. Because the island and Marianne share a remarkable history, and what happened all those years ago, has left its scars and some terrible secrets. As Tartelin pieces together Marianne’s connection to the island, she must confront her own reasons for being there.

Clarry Penrose finds the good in everyone. Even in her father, who isn't fond of children, and especially girls. He doesn't worry about her education, because he knows she won't need it. It's the early 20th century, and the only thing girls are expected to do is behave. But Clarry wants to dive off cliffs and go swimming with her brother Peter and cousin Rupert. And more than anything, she wants an education. She helps Peter with his homework all the time, so why can't she manage it by herself? When war breaks out, Clarry is shocked to find that Rupert has enlisted.

Behavioral expert, Julia Menken, works as one of the few police 'profilers' in The Netherlands' Homicide and Sex Crimes Unit. She regards her intuition as one of her biggest strengths, but it's that same intuition that causes diabolical dilemmas, both at work and in her private life.